Hugo Broos cinfident off Bafana’s odds against Nigeria
Hugo Broos reiterated his confidence in his team ahead of Bafan Bafana’s nail-biting clash with Nigeria on Wednesday in the AFCON semi-final
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is confident that his side will overcome Nigeria in the African Cup of Nations(Afcon) semi-final on Wednesday.
Broos is bidding for a second AFCON title after leading Cameroon to the winners’ medal in 2017, and he faced a barrage of questions from journalists on Tuesday reminding him about previous clashes against Nigeria.
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HUGO BROOS WILL BE WITHOUT THAPELO MASEKO FOR THE NIGERIA MATCH
“Yes, we know and understand who we are up against. We know the might of this team and that their players play all over Europe. We also know that last time in an AFCON what the result was, but this time it’s different. It’s different players, a different team and a different AFCON. Anything is possible,” said the Belgian tactician.
Bafana will be without Thapelo Maseko due to injury, Broos confirmed.
“Sadly due to the third-degree tear (hamstring), Maseko is out for the rest of the tournament. But he remains with us till the end. We will not replace the player with another due to time (Visas and the travel time to get to Cote d’Ivoire at short notice), so we will continue the tournament with the squad we have,” he said.
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Captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, who was the man of the match in the quarter-final clash against Cape Verde, shied away from taking credit after making several breathtaking saves during the penalty shoot-out.
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“After seeing the players run for about 130 minutes non-stop, it was my turn to stand up and do my part. I’m happy it went our way but ultimately this is a team sport. I don’t like to take credit because they fought just as hard. So, reaching the semi-finals here means we did it together,” he said.
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